Dana: Anderson wants a 10 fight deal

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva is currently signed with the promotion for two more fights. He's gone back-and-forth on the subject of retirement, first saying he would be out of the game at 35-years-old, then later claiming he could continue his career for another 10 years.
As of late, it's seemed he's content on taking it one fight at a time. But if we're to believe UFC President Dana White, that's not the case.
That's because he revealed to fans during a live chat with MetroPCS that the UFC approached the reigning pound-for-pound king with a new 8-fight contract offer. And he turned it down.
"f--- that, I want a 10-fight deal," Silva said. Or at least that's what White said Silva said. Expletive likely added.
We can't realistically expect the Brazilian to fulfill a contract like that, assuming it comes to be. He's 37-years-old right now, and he'll be 38 come April of next year. Assuming he maintains his current pace of fighting twice a year, that would mean competing until he's 43, not an impossible feat -- Randy Couture says "hi" -- but not one we can expect out of professional martial artists in today's super competitive landscape.
Then again, "The Spider" has sustained a ton of damage throughout his career and has never once been knocked out. A decline is expected at some point but there's no telling when that will be.
Within the next 10 bouts? That's probably safe to say.
Either way, it almost feels like we should simply be grateful to watch the greatest of all time to continue to ply his craft inside the Octagon.

Absolutely not and I hate it when people use this justification in professional sports.

You never pay a guy for what he has done. Well, you can... but that's how you go out of business and/or suck.

MMA is a business, just like any other professional sport. Sure, you have to show loyalty to the guys who brought in tons of revenue while getting criminally underpaid... but you can't overpay someone who was compensated very farily, just because they had a great career.

Anderson has been more than fairly compensated for what he has brought to the UFC. We're not talking about a dude who went 4-0 and made $125,000... we're talking about a guy who is a multi-millionare many times over.

I would definitely like to see Anderson retire as a UFC fighter... but if his demands are unreasonable (a 10 fight deal, at his current compensation level, is ridiculous for a guy at his age) and he wants to walk, let him.

Then again, I seriously doubt that Anderson walks from the UFC. There is no other organization out there who can pay him the amount that the UFC is paying him. Maybe he can get one or two fights in a start up organization and bank on that... but no one out there can offer the multi-fight payout that the UFC can offer him.

All of that being said, I also seriously doubt that Anderson is asking for 10 more guaranteed fights at the same guaranteed amount he is making per fight right now.

This whole notion of, "he's been awesome... so give him a blank check and let him write the amount" is the reason that a lot of other promotions went under.

If you're the UFC and Dana White you definitely respect the contributions that Anderson has made and make him a reasonable offer... but you don't hand him the keys to the company and let him name his price. That is just stupid.